Free Spirit
by LayLayX
Summary: History repeats itself on Puck, with a different subject this time. Rachel Berry. When everything with Quinn is finally starting to leave his thoughs thats happens when Rachel discovers she's going to be a mum, and Puck is the father?
1. Chapter 1

**I honestly don't know where this idea came from, but I just had to write it. I wasn't sure where it would go either, but towards the 10th chapter I hit a sort of wall with writing, so I have finished it there for now. But I may do a sequel. Apologies if the writing is bad or what not... I don't have a beta so it's all me! **

**I hope you like it, not much really happens in the chapter, it's just the beginning! Please let me know what you think! I love reviews, so if you read it and like it let me know so I can get the next chapter up soon, Sorry for any delays, but life is pretty hectic right now! LayX**

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><p>"Get in" His voice startles her as she looks to the car close beside her, is he serious? Get into a car with him? Why on earth should she oblige? Since when did they talk? Why would he want her in his car, the only reason that is plausible is so that he can do some wild act to humiliate her.<p>

She tries to ignore him, quickening her pace towards the school

"Berry get it" he says it again, is he mental? Has he gone crazy or something, does he honestly think I'll just jump in or something?

He drives slowly beside her, the window down looking straight at her the whole way until she stops to turn and look at him, she doesn't say anything, she just stands there and looks at him to find any signals of his mental state.

"Well? Are you going to get in?" For the love of god, what is wrong with him?

"No I am not" she squeaked out "Why in the world would I get into your car, what gives you any sort of idea that I would happily jump in"

"Were friends" he shrugs, since when exactly? Has he been living under some kind of rock? We talked for about a week that time we 'dated' but since then? Where was the evidence that we were even close to friends? We may be in glee together, but he usually makes it clear that he doesn't like me saying he would rather light himself on fire than spend time with me or whatever, yes because that's what friends feel for one another. Am I going crazy and dreaming this or something, this is not the run of the mill morning for me.

"We've never been friends" Just stating a fact

"Yeah we are friends, that time we dated that was pretty hot, we made a good couple"

Has he hit his head? We make no sense as a couple, he's popular and all the girls want him, although most of them have probably had him. This isn't definitely weird.

"Look Noah, what do you want? Is this some ploy to embarrass me in some way, because I can save you the bother if you just tell me what it is you want to do, because we certainly do not make a good couple, and you don't like me, we don't talk so this make no sense to me, why do you want me to get into your car?" it all came out like a nervous babble, when she was intending to sound strong and not scared, she couldn't help but imagine what he wanted to do to her, locked her in the car and tip it, toss her out somewhere and have people throw things at her, it all seemed so terrible that she just wanted to avoid the situation.

He shrugged again, this just seemed normal to him like he did this every day to some girl he barely knew and didn't talk to, heck maybe he did.

"Rachel, I just want some company, would it kill you to get into the car and ride to school with me? I swear I'm not going to do anything to you, we may not talk, but you're a good listener and I'd really like to ride to school with you"

He seemed kind of desperate like he wanted to talk about some sort of life or death situation, she pulled open the door, put her bag in the back and climbed in "Talk fast, and drive safely" she said sitting uncomfortably in the front seat waiting on something terrible happening.

He didn't say anything which made her nerves soar, and when they drove right past the turning for the school her stomach pretty much hit the floor, she waited to see if he had some other car park he used, but when they drove for another 3 or so minutes down the road she got scared "Where are we going Noah, the school is back there"

He heard the nerves in her voice and he laughed a little bit "A detour" he said simply, a detour was he insane? School started in ten minutes and Rachel Berry never misses school

"Noah were going to be late" her eyes were narrow and he words were sharp "I'd really appreciate you turning around" "Right now" she added

"We can't be late if we're not going"

He's kidnapping me? Thoughts of all sorts ran through her head, but she kept her cool the whole time.

"Not going?" she asked simply, if he can play the simple game she can too

"Have you ever skipped school, have you ever done anything out of the ordinary that you didn't plan, that you just thought would be fun, spontaneously decided to do with someone because it sounded like it would be fun?"

She turned her head and if he even bothered to look at her she was sure the death stare she was giving him would make him stop the car and reverse all the way back to McKinley, but he didn't even take notice of her head turning "No I haven't, because I always plan what I do in my day, I don't like to just decide to do things, because then those things could go badly and you get disappointed and I don't like to be disappointed, I have a schedule and rules for my life that I like to stick to, I don't know what you're doing but I would really like it if you just took me to school"

"See I knew it, you don't have any fun Rachel, and you need to live a little, break the mould and all that"

I swear my self defence skills will come in handy if he doesn't stop this act, I think he's either drunk or high, why else would he be acting like this? This isn't normal.

"I like my life Noah, I like planning things I like having a mould, please just take me to school" she sounded weak now, like she was begging him not to hurt her, and Rachel Berry doesn't beg anyone, so there you go he got something she didn't plan, he can let me go now I broke my mould, I begged someone for something.

"One day off school won't hurt you Rach, it's a study day anyway and I know for a fact you don't need to study because your grades are perfect, just trust me okay?"

She scoffed at his choice of words, "Yeah that worked for Quinn didn't it?" that was harsh and she knew just then that she'd hit a nerve because he flinched and she swore she saw tears welling at his eyes, if he even has tear ducts that was. "Sorry that wasn't fair"

"S'okay" he shrugged, she wanted to break his shoulders right now, and didn't he know that was rude, yeah a shrug is okay, but to do it so many times when someone is talking to you is rude in Rachel Berry's book.

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><p>There was silence for the remainder of the journey to wherever they were going, Rachel had no clue. She was in a world of her own when the car stopped and his door opened "I'll be right back" he said and closed door without even waiting on her to reply, or object or scream or do anything.<p>

She couldn't help but feel this was weird, it was truly like kidnap, she was here against her will, but she didn't call for help or use her cell phone to call anyone, it was just all too difficult for her to understand, she wouldn't usually stand for this, she should have called police of her Dad's or someone buy now, but she didn't put up a fight. She did get into the car out of her own free will and she could have made him turn around, grab his hand if she thought it wouldn't put her life in danger, she could call someone right now and tell them to come and get her, but she didn't want to, she wanted to be here. She felt a need to be here and she didn't know what it was exactly, maybe that's why she's still here to find out.

She saw him walk out of the garage carrying a bag in one hand and a slushie in the other, Oh dear lord here it goes, that drink is going to end up all over me in about five seconds. Sheer disbelief filled her when he handed her the drink and got back into his car.

"What are we doing? I'm not going to fight you and tell you to drive me back, because it would be a waste of time now, we've already missed over an hour of school, I just want to know what the point of this is, are you going to leave me out here somewhere to die like that film I seen a while ago?"

His laughter finally breaks the ice or so to speak, but really what is funny?

"I'm not going to kill you Rach" Rach that name it's a nickname and only friends call other friends nicknames, why is he calling me this? He never really calls my name but when he does it's 'Berry' he likes to use. "Can you just stop asking questions for like 20 minutes and then you'll see where were going?"

"Fine" she breathed out, there was no point in arguing, she could wait she was a patient person.

She let him carry on driving and silence filled the car again, it was strange though because the silence wasn't awkward it was more peaceful than anything else, it was like they did this everyday and it was perfectly normal to do, but the fact was it wasn't and it freaked her out a little bit how she wasn't uncomfortable about this, she wasn't squirming in her seat edging to get out the car away from him, she wanted to be here, she liked it even, his smell the bumps in the road and the mystery of the whole thing was kind of fun.

She really didn't sound like Rachel right now, it was like some free spirited person had took over her body, not just hers Pucks too, this wasn't like him, or was it? She didn't really know him all that well after all.

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><p><em><strong>Reviews are loved! <strong>_


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank for the reviews! Please do keep them coming!  
>I hope you enjoy this chapter! <strong>

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><p>He pulled into what looked like a car park and turned off the engine, Rachel assumed this was their destination and took a look about, all she could see was trees, they seemed to be everywhere around her. No other cars where here and she was pretty sure this was the last thing she was going to see, what if this was like one of those awful horror movies, where the guy takes the girl to a remote location and rapes her and then kills her leaving her body there to rot and then mourns with the rest of the school. Okay maybe she was a little bit dramatic, but anything could happen these days.<p>

She sat quietly and watched him; he just leaned back in his seat and looked straight in front of him.

"Are we here?" her voice was quiet, and it shocked her a little, she always had such a loud powerful voice that filled the entire room, it was very projectile, this barely filled the small car.

He nodded "Yeah" he said moving his hand to the door, he opened it and stepped out, taking in the scene around him, Rachel watched him for a couple of seconds before she did the same, she walked around the car until she was close to him

"Where are we?" she didn't feel scared anymore, it was a rather beautiful place, the trees made it all closed in and even though it was only a car park it seemed to peaceful that she could just stay there all day.

"Blackwood" he began to walk towards an opening in the trees and she followed "I used to come here when I was younger, I loved it"

Blackwood Lake? She thought, that was at least a 2 hour drive away, had they really been travelling that long?

"What are we doing here?" she wasn't sure if she was going to get an answer, but she had to try, to get some explanation for this, she tried again when she got no answer "Noah?"

He turned to face her and she was sure this was the moment he would leap on her and she was also sure she was going to spend her final day on earth right in this spot, he looked so hurt, the pain in his eyes made her feel pain, or perhaps that was the fact she thought she was going to die today, but she did fell something, she couldn't explain it.

"Noah, please just tell me something" instead of trying to stay away from the man she thought was going to end her life she moved closer, reaching out her hand to place it on his arm.

"It's Beth's birthday today" his head hit the ground, and his eyes were holding back tears, she knew it. Of course it was, why did she forget? She remembers that day so well, they day her mom took home her friends baby and called her her own, the day she got replaced. It's selfish to be thinking of herself now though, yes her mother may be at home celebrating her technically sisters first year on the earth, but this was Pucks baby, his daughter that he never got a chance with, he loved her Rachel could tell and she knew that he wanted to keep her, he would have treated her like a princess and loved her and did everything he could for her, but the opportunity was snatched away from him. He must be feeling so much pain right now.

"I sent her a card, but I don't think she would have gotten it. Do you think your mom would have gave it to her?" he looked like a child right now, there was so much hope in his eyes "I just wrote from Noah, because from dad didn't sound right, I'm not her dad, I'm just her biological father, and I don't think your mom would have liked me writing dad anyway, would she?"

He was babbling like a scared boy trying to get himself out of trouble, it hurt to hear him "I honestly don't know what Shelby would do" she doesn't refer to her as a mom or mother anymore, it's too painful "But I'd like to think she gave it to her, she isn't that cold hearted, you are her father after all Noah, you can't ever forget that, you may not see her, but just to know that she's safe and loved, it's nice"

He nodded "It is yeah"

We began walking together until we got to the edge of the lake, I wasn't scared for my life anymore, although I did expect him to throw me in or something just for technically being Beth's sister, but I know that's not the reason I'm out here now, I honestly don't know why I am out here, why me? Why didn't he take Quinn out here? Maybe he would have killed her, who knows.

I know they don't speak anymore, they haven't since she started going on with Sam, and when they broke up I could see her got a little bit of hope that maybe they could get back together, the whole glee club seen her public rejection, she was definitely back to her old self again, and when her and Finn got back together after our relationship ended, it hurt him. Badly.

It hurt me too, but Finn and I didn't have a child together that I pretended didn't exist unlike Quinn and Noah.

"I'm sorry for bringing you here, I don't know why I did it, we can go back now I'm really sorry Rachel" I think he finally realised what was going on, that he had kind of kidnapped me and brought me out here against my will, but I didn't want to leave now.

"It's okay, we can stay" I smiled "I understand how you would feel, not from experience of course, but I can imagine and I'm so sorry you had to go through that, and seeing me wouldn't help because if I was you it would remind me of her, but keep your chin up Noah, you will no doubt have beautiful kids of your own one day, I know she will always be your first child, but it will get better"

I didn't expect what came next at all, the tears streaked down his face and Noah Puckerman broke now right before my eyes, I could do nothing else but hold him and if this was anywhere near Lima where people could see us together, touching, hugging! I'm sure he would pull away pretty quickly, but out here he did the opposite, he grabbed me and held me too like he needed someone just to hold him upright, and he cried like I've never seen anyone cry before. This was Puck the stud badass of the school and he was in my arms crying like a baby, this was surreal.

He pulled himself together and looked at me with all this remorse on his face, which quickly changed to an apologetic expression "I'm sorry; I, I don't know what came over me"

"It's okay" I don't know what came over him either, but there's no need to apologise, it's a hard time and he can cry as much as he likes, my lips are sealed "And don't worry about today, if anyone asks I had an audition for a role or something, I won't breath a word to anyone I promise" I know he's probably thinking about that, about me telling people and them all finding out he's some sort of person with feelings, but I'm not like that who cares if he cried he's a person and everyone has rights.

"Thank you" the sincerity in his voice always makes her shiver, never once has she heard Noah Puckerman apologise, never mind meaning it, this is a whole other side to him, a softer side with feelings and a heart, she kind of likes its.

"Come on lets go" she holds out her hand and he takes it, they walk along the edge of the lake together, and there is complete silence and it's so peaceful that she could do this forever and be happy with it.

It's a weird feeling, to be holding his hand like this, yeah when the dated she walked around hanging off his arm, but they never held hands, not like this. This felt like they had knew each other forever and they did this every single day, but it was new to both of them. There was no awkward feeling, it just felt kind of right. He didn't even say anything about it, maybe he didn't even notice.

They got to a bench and their bodies just took them to sit on it, they sat close together and after a minute of two, Puck put his arm around her and held her close to him

"Thank you so much for coming here with me, I know I didn't ask you or give you a choice, I don't know what I was doing if I'm honest, but you really helped me and that means a lot, you're a really great girl Rachel, and your kind of beautiful"

God. Did he just say that? The tingles I have on my spine confirm it, he just called me beautiful, I didn't think I had anymore feelings apart from that one week where I found him sort of attractive but maybe I was wrong because right now I feel completely and utterly attracted to him, and he just called me beautiful.

"Do you want to go, we could make glee?"

I just nodded because if I did open my mouth right now I don't know what would come out of it.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sorry this has taken son long, I've been super busy! Thank you for the reviews! Keep em coming! :D I hope you like this chapter! LayX**

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><p>The leave straight away, getting into the car filled with silence and it staying that way for about half an hour until Rachel speaks up, she never did like awkward silences and it's a miracle she had stayed quiet for this long.<p>

"Why did you choose me to come here with you?" she's nervous about the answer, she hasn't said two words to him since he called her that word, and he hasn't even looked at her

He breathes in and she thinks she asked the wrong question, she did spend all the time from the car park to wherever they are now deciding whether or not to ask, she decided to go for it, now she might be regretting her decision.

He doesn't say anything for a few minutes and Rachel thinks he chosen to ignore her question which is pretty rude, but she's not going to press the issue.

"Because your honest and I feel okay when I talk to you, you're not like anyone else at our school, you want to help people and you don't laugh when someone is upset or taunt them even more, you try to help them, when Quinn was pregnant and the rest of the school where making fun of her of pushing her out, you tried to be a friend, she told me that you still treated her exactly the same and that she thought you would be just like everyone else because if it was you, she would torture you, more than she does now" he stopped for a breath "And I do actually like you, I know I never show it, but I'm not like the rest of the kids at that school, they all hate you for no reason, but you're a good person and why should someone hate someone for being a good person?"

Wow. Tears. She felt like she could cry because that was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her "Thanks" her cheeks were turning a pale pink, she wound down the window to let some air into the car.

"There's nothing to thank me for, I should be the one thanking you, for coming with me and not putting up a fight, If this didn't happen and I imagined it, I would have thought you would have kicked and screamed until I let you go" he laughed a little looking to her for the first time.

She laughed too "It's been fun; I never in my life would have thought I would have done something like this, skipping school and just driving somewhere not knowing where. I plan everything in advance, it's kind of fun to just do something out of the blue"

"Wow, never thought I would hear you say doing something crazy was fun, do you actually know what fun is?" she would be offended if she thought he was serious, but his mocking voice had her at ease.

She glared slightly at him and watched as he laughed at her, "I do indeed know what fun is, you don't know me" her eyes were mysterious now and she could tell he wanted to know more

"Do tell Berry"

She shook her head "What I do is my business, for me to know and you maybe to find out one, day far in the future when my career is over and we meet again in Lima old people's home"

"You'll be there alone, there's no way I'm going to be in that dump, it smells like a trashcan, I'll jump off a cliff before I have to be put into one of those places"

She couldn't help but laugh, even though she knew he was being completely honest.

"Are we going to make it back for glee?"

"We should, we have plenty of time, we may be like 5 minutes late but I'm sure that would ok, would it?" he asked her "You know with your perfect record and all that" What was with the taunting, if it wasn't Noah Puckerman in the car Rachel would think he was flirting with her, but he couldn't be, could he?

The drive was quiet after that, just small talk about what they did for their glee assignment and about nationals in New York

"Have you been before?"

"No, it's my dream to go, and star in a Broadway play and then rise to stardom, but I doubt it will ever happen now, living in this town gets you nowhere, and dealing with all the people in it doesn't help, I want to get out of her as fast as I can, but I don't know if I can do it anymore, it will take so much and..."

"You will" he cut her off "You know exactly what you want and you know how to get there, there isn't a chance you aren't going to make it, your talented, you have a head for the business and your hot" he shrugged, "That's all you need to get to the top, and you have it"

Hot? He called me hot? I could melt again; I've never in my life been called hot by the most popular boy in school.

I'm most definitely attracted to him right now, if he turned around and kissed me and didn't stop there I think I would be perfectly okay with it.

He turned his head and her heart basically stopped "20 questions? I'm bored"

She laughed and nodded "You go first"

He nodded and thought for a while "Crush?"

You. "Em, like a celebrity crush or what?"

He shrugged his shoulders (its was seriously hot) "Any crush you have"

"I always thought that Zac Efron was hot"

"Hot? I didn't think you thought people were hot, more like beautiful or stunning"

"I'm very much a normal person Noah; I have crushes and everything else a normal girl has"

"Like a first time?" he had this devilish smile on his face and I really wanted to toy with him, but I really didn't want him to know what I had done and who I had done it with so to speak, it was really none of his business, but something inside of me wouldn't let me tell him that like the normal Rachel Berry would do

"That's my business" I said a grin on my face "And it's for me to know and for you to maybe find out, but firsts it's my question" I never knew I could be so, em playful or whatever you want to call it, I was flirting, and I never really flirted with anyone

"Okay" he said playing along "Go right ahead, ask me anything I don't believe in secrets" he was clearly flirting back, the way he was looking at me, it was almost like he was undressing me with his eyes, and you know what I liked it, it felt good for someone to look at me like they wanted me, and to flirt with me for fun, not for the humour of telling everyone how dumb I was. He was being genuine.

I thought for a while, I really didn't know what I wanted to ask him. I decided to go with something I really wanted to know "You're a ladies' man, everyone knows that. But do you have all those girls because you like them, or just because everyone expects it and you don't want to ruin your reputation?"

That was deep, she realised that when he looked at her as if she had asked him the hardest question in the world, he looked like he really did not want to answer it, but he surprised her by doing just that

"It's a bit of both, look guys like sex it's obvious, and girls throw themselves at me because of my reputation so it's good to have, and yeah I do kind of want to keep it, but I was something more, a serious relationship. I never get it because people just assume I want sex, so that's what I get and then I don't hear from the girl again, some of them I'm glad off that, but there were others that were really great girls and I may have wanted more with them, but everyone would be shocked and I would get some stick if I stuck with one girl"

"Why though? Surely people can't expect you to just keep being this guy for the rest of your life; surely they'll understand that if you find a girl you like and want to be with you'll do just that?"

He shrugged "It won't stop all the girls from throwing themselves at me, and they'll just be thinking how long it will be before I give in and cheat, that's the reason girls don't want a relationship, the reputation is great and all that, but it comes with its downfalls" he was being completely honest, I had never seen this side to him, "And I believe it was my question so I get two now" he grinned

"So have you?" I knew exactly what he meant, he wanted to know the answer to the previous question, boys always want to know this stuff don't they?

"Why are you so interested in my love life?" she realised she wasn't going to get an answer so she decided to just go ahead and answer his question "Yes"

He looked shocked, and she felt a little hurt, he didn't think she had sex, why wouldn't she? She was just a normal teenage girl.

"Who with?"

"Not who you think, it wasn't Finn we never slept together, it was a boy called Kyle, I met him just after Finn broke up with me and I wanted to get over him so I used him a few times, it was never anything serious and we were both aware of that, it was just fun"

"Wow dirty little secrets are coming out now!" he smiled "I would have never thought you would have used someone Rachel" he said in fake disappointment.

She laughed and before she could ask another question she saw the school just in front of her "That seemed a lot quicker than going there"

He agreed "Maybe because we actually talked on the way back" he laughed and got out of the car opening to door at the other side for her

"Thanks" she said walking into the building beside him

"You know people are going to ask questions right?"

"Let them ask" she laughed as he held the door for her to walk in.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you all for reading this, I hope your enjoying it! Please review and let me know what you all think of it! LayX**

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><p>Glee wasn't as bad as she imagined, they didn't ask questions about why they were together, they probably didn't even notice, all they cared about was why Rachel Berry wasn't in school. The plan worked she told them that she had an audition and she did not want to talk about it, they were all in pretty much shock that Rachel didn't want to tell them all about whether they asked or not, so they didn't ask her anything else and rehearsed as usual.<p>

It was that night that was strange, she was home alone because her dad's had business out of the state, so she cooked herself dinner and say down to watch a movie. It was Dear John, a beautiful movie that she had seen before a few times, but it was of those ones that didn't get old and you could watch it and cry at it as many times as you could. It was on for about an hour when her phone began to ring, she hit the paused button and looked at the screen, she didn't recognise the number.

"Hello" her voice was just the same on the phone, she didn't have a posh telephone voice, she didn't need on

"Rach, do you wanna come over?" Not even a hello; she would have been appalled by the manners if she didn't recognise the voice.

She didn't want to seem like she knew how he sounded and he probably was aware that she didn't have his number "I'm sorry, but who is this?"

"It's Noah" he said, Noah? He just referred to himself as Noah, he never does that, he's always Puck or some other crude nickname he likes to call himself 'woah' was all she could think.

"Oh, I'm just in the middle of watching a movie; you could come here if you like. My dad's are away and won't be home until the weekend and they don't mind me having friends over" it was true, she was always allowed friends over just as long as she told her fathers who they were and when they were coming, they were great parents.

"Kay" and she could totally see him shrugging right there

"You remember where I live, yes?"

"Yeah, I'll see you in about 10 minutes" and with that he hung up the phone and she knew he was grabbing a jacket and heading to his car, what was this all about? Why was he bothering with her? She had no idea, but she secretly liked it, it was fun and exciting and something she would have ever thought she would be doing.

Right on time there's a knock at the door and Rachel pauses the movie to answer it, he smiles at her as she invites him in, he walks to the living room and waits on her to follow "Your sure it's cool that I'm here?" she can tell he's upset

"Yes, it's fine I was going to be spending the night alone anyway, it will be nice to have company" she smiled at him "Was there something you wanted?" she didn't want to jump straight in with questions, but why was he hear looking like someone had just kicked his puppy?

He shook his head "Just company" she knew it wasn't the whole story but she left it there for now, if he wanted to tell her something she would wait until he was comfortable

"Would you like a drink or anything?" she asked him and watched as he nodded "Are you sure?"

"I'm cool, but I'll be hungry later do you wanna share a pizza or something?

Carbs, not healthy! Was all she could think but she agreed anyway, as if this day could be any stranger than Rachel eating a pizza.

"What is this?" he asked when the film was back on

"Dear John, have you seen it?"

"Nah"

"And let me guess you wouldn't watch it?"

"Nah" he laughed "But it's not too bad I suppose"

It was actually kin do cute that he was watching this and trying his best to like it and not say something that would offend her or make her angry at him. He was being the opposite of his usual self, usually by now he would have made at least two rude comments and insulted her at least once, it was nice to have Noah without Puck.

They ordered the pizza and it came just as the movie ended, Noah paid for it and she smiled when his back was turned, staring at him like he had just done the nicest thing in the world. He brought the pizza over and put in on the table in front of the sofa while she went to get the drinks.

"Is cola okay?" she asked walking back to the room holding up to cans

He nodded and thanked her when she gave him one "What is a vegan pizza by the way?" he said looking at her half of the pizza and she could tell he didn't like the look of it.

"It doesn't have the cheese or any of the meant, it has herbs and spices and I got mushroom and peppers on it, would you like a slice?"

He deliberated for a few seconds before he took a small slice and ate it, his face didn't show that he was disgusted by the taste, but it didn't seem like it was the best thing he had ever eaten, "Not bad, prefer mine though, do you never get sick of not having as many choices, or eating meat?"

She shook her head "Nope, I love animals and I don't want them to suffer for my enjoyable pleasure, I have no problem with meat and dairy eaters it's just I choose not to, who knows I may have saved the life of an animal over my time, I like to think of it as may way of living, I'm so used to it that I don't get the chance to miss other foods, I've been a vegan since I was 7 and I haven't missed out on anything"

He nodded not saying or asking anything else and she smiled, she could tell he had respect for what she said, but he wasn't going to convert anytime soon.

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><p>The conversation kept going until they kind of ran out of things to talk about, they had been there in the same position for hours and it only seemed like minutes, Rachel took this as her opportunity to ask him why he really came round, she knew there was a reason, she could tell by the pain lingering behind his eyes.<p>

"Noah, I don't want to pry or upset you or anything, but why did you come round here? It was really fun and stuff but I have a feeling you didn't come round for pizza and a movie, you can talk to me about anything, it's safe with me" she gave him a comforting smile and watched as he looked at her and sighed.

"I talked to Quinn after glee to see if she was okay and stuff" he looked like he was about to cry, it was kind of heartbreaking to see him like this

"And, did something happen?"

"She forgot" whatever was stabbing him had just been pulled out and that fresh pain you get that makes you curl up and scream hit him. A tear rolled down his cheek "She told that she didn't want me near her that being in the same room was bad enough, she told me she put everything behind her and never wanted to think back to it again" he sighed and began talking again "I loved her Rachel I really did love her, and I haven't had a girlfriend since, I slept with Santana a few times, but I told her it had to stop and that I couldn't do it anymore and she knew why, I could tell she tried to help and get me to talk, but I didn't want her to know anything, I didn't want anyone to know, I was a really idiot to her and I could tell I hurt her a little bit"

"It's not your fault what happened between you and Quinn, everyone knew you loved her and everyone can see you still do, it's Quinn she likes to be in control and she wants to have everything and for it to be perfect, Noah you aren't the perfect guy and she knows you, she wanted Finn like she always wanted and she got him, I don't know how they can possibly be happy, she rules his life but somehow they seem to be. Forget about Quinn and everything that happened and I know you won't be able to do that completely and it will be hard, but you have to move one. I'm not telling you to forget your daughter, I'm sure she's beautiful and no doubt she will have a little something of you, always remember her and keep her in your heart"

He nodded, it was a sad nod but at least he was agreeing "I know now that Quinn doesn't want me and I know how much of a bitch she is, she was just the first girl I loved and I never felt anything like that for anyone else" he smiled a little letting things fall out of his mind, hopefully forever "Thank you Rachel, I never knew you were this great I would have came to you a long time ago if I did, and don't think you have to keep our friendship a secret, you've did so much for me today it would be cruel and wrong, I'm going to change" he laughed a little "Or at least try"

She laughed along with him "Thanks"

"For what? I did nothing to help you" he said looking at her with raised eyebrows

"Just for today, it was really fun and seeing a different side of you was nice, you're a really great guy and any girl would be lucky to have you" she felt butterflies in her stomach as he looked at her, his eyes burning into hers.

When he leaned forward she thought she was dreaming, trying to shake her mind out of it she closed her for a short second but when she opened them the image didn't go away, this time he was closer to her and she felt his lips touch hers in a soft kiss. She returned the kiss reaching her arm up to his shoulder while his snaked his was to her back pulling her closer to him.

It was long until the passion grew in the kiss and his hand was entangled in her hair "Any guy would be lucky to have you as well" he giggled

"It must be your lucky day then" she said pulling away looking straight at him smirking a little, this wasn't like her, she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stairs, caught up in passion she kissed him the whole way up until they got to her bedroom, opening the door with one hand while the other was still around his neck they made their way in and quickly onto the bed, he lay her down and lay beside her their lips still locked together.

"Are you sure?" he asked stopping for what seemed like forever, she was hungry for more she nodded her head and brought him back to her lips.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you all for the lovely replies, they always make me smile! :) I hope you like this chapter, as usual please review if you like it, or if you have anything that I could improve! :)

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><p>Rachel never in her life thought she would be walking the school corridor with Santana by her side, never mind walking towards Noah to kiss him and go to glee.<p>

After Rachel and Noah got together and became a public couple the day after, Santana found Rachel suddenly cool and wanted to hang around her, Brittany too but she was pretty sure that she had no idea Rachel and Noah were even dating. But it was nice having them as friends, Britt was an amazing dancer and could help Rachel improve which was what she was always trying to do, and having Santana as a friend and Noah as a boyfriend meant no one messed with Rachel. She was top of the chain now, so to speak.

Everything changed though the day she was late, and Rachel Berry was never late. Not even to class.

She was in a panic all day and had to try hard to concentrate on class and Rachel never dazed off, she was always paying full attention taking notes just to be that extra bit ahead of everyone else, but today she wanted to be as far away from everyone else as possible. She had been avoiding her friends all day and she knew that she couldn't do that in glee, so she had to get her head together.

It will come. She told herself over and over. You just need to stop panicking, it makes its later the more your body goes into panic mode.

The end of the day finally came and she told Noah and Santana that she had to rush home because it was her dad's birthday and there was this special thing they always did and it was about to start, not all of it was a lie. It was his birthday he was just out of town on some work business.

She made a quick stop to the drug store before she rushed into her house threw down her bags and headed straight for the bathroom.

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><p>Those two blue lines ruined her life.<p>

She sat in the same stop for two hours that night, tears running fiercely down her cheeks, her eyes read and puffy and her heart lying somewhere in the bottom of her stomach.

How could this have happened? She asked the question over and over and there was no one there to listen to her, to give her an answer to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. She wanted nothing more than to wake up and see it was all a dream, but the pinch marks on her hand told her that wasn't going to happen.

She took a deep breath and left the bathroom, taking the stick that was now wrapped up in toilet paper to the bin outside, placing it in one of the bags near the bottom she went back into the house.

She curled her legs up on the sofa and the tears began to fall again.

How could she become a mother? She was meant to be a star and stars didn't have children at 16.

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><p>She broke up with Puck the next day and he was shocked, they had only been going out for four weeks and there was no sign to their break up, she was adamant it was what she wanted and that she didn't want to speak about it or speak to him again, she even called him Puck when this was happening and he was pretty sure that hurt him more than the break up.<p>

She stopped talking to Santana and Brittany and she didn't even try in glee club, she gave away all of her solo's and she didn't breath a word to anyone, she was there to be a part of the routine and that was all she did.

She didn't leave exactly until Kurt called her out on her behaviour, he didn't think that as co captain it was right of her to not care and to not take solo's when she was given them and to not be doing anything to really help them. So she told him to take over and that she was leaving, it wasn't even dramatic. Every ounce of Rachel Berry that was in was gone, it was like she was different person now, that one mistake could make her life to a complete turnaround.

She still continued to go to school, because she needed some sort of education to live on when she got to that age, she doubted her father's would take care of her all her life. But she had no real interest for class.

All she could think about was the 6 week old baby that was growing inside of her and what she was going to do. She considered termination, she considered it heavily but she couldn't do it, she looked up clinics but she couldn't make that phone call, that appointment that would end someone's life, she may be desperate but she would never stoop that low.

She had no idea what to do, she had no one she felt she could turn to because Rachel was an independent person, but sooner or later she was going to start to show and people would put two and two together and ultimately get four.

She cared for Noah a lot, but this wasn't something she could put on him, not after Quinn she knew it would destroy him. But somewhere in the back of her mind she knew he would find out. The only thing she could do was leave and never see him again.

But could she really do that, turn her back on her whole life? Leave her dads' behind to go off and have a baby and live dear knows what kind of life it would turn out to be.

She locked herself in her room most nights. Her dad's where out a lot so that helped hide the fact she was dying inside, when they were home she put on this fake act that she hated, she was Rachel Berry, future star on Broadway when they were in the house and when they were out, she was Rachel Berry mum to be at 16, destined for a life of misery with no one but herself and her child.

She didn't talk to anyone in school and when someone tried to talk to her she brushed them off with a glance, not even a word. There was no explanation for her behaviour and she had no one to support her because no one could know.

Finn, Santana, Brittany even Quinn tried to talk to her when they seen her in the corridor or whisper to her when they had classes together, but she ignored every single one of them. It got to a point when even Kurt and Mercedes were trying to get something out of her, being nice to her smiling and asking her if she was okay, and what had happened to her. But nothing could make her say a word, not even her arch enemies trying to be her best friends.

The thing that hurt the most was when she past Puck, her would try his best to stare into her eyes, to try and get an answer to why she was doing this to him, that two weeks they spent together everyone could tell he had fallen for her, Santana even called it a miracle because Puck doesn't do relationships and they way he looked at her and took care of her told everyone that it was serious.

And now she wouldn't speak a single word to him, she didn't want to look at him and the boy hadn't got a clue, no one knew how much it hurt him, no one but Rachel because when she seen him he killed her with the look of pain in his eyes, the apology that he was giving to her through his eyes, even though he had no idea what he was apologising for.

She couldn't take it anymore; the last straw was when he called her name down the corridor.

She turned around and she didn't know why, it made it harder to see his face, especially this time there were tears in his eyes that he desperately trying to keep hidden away and his face was pained "Rach, please just talk to me? Tell me what I've done"

She couldn't do it anymore, it hurt too much not to jump into his arms and tell him everything.

When she got home that night she thanked god for her father's not being home, she packed her car with everything she could fit in and she left a note for her fathers, apologising for what she was doing and telling them that she would call them and let them know that she was safe, that she couldn't stay in Lima anymore, but she promised she wouldn't go far.

The was a town north of Lima called Lansing, she headed there and booked out a cheap motel for her first night away from the nightmare that she was living.

It didn't take long for her to get a job, working a local bar as a waitress, no one seemed to care that she was only 16; she looked older than she was and the boss told her to play along with whatever age people thought she was.

She never complained because it was her only way off earning money, and she got to eat their free when she was working so that helped.

The people were friendly and she ever had a friend, her name was Molly and she worked with her, they had mostly the same shifts and they were around the same age, even though they weren't allowed to discuss that.

They never really talked about where they came from, the first it ever came up was when Molly was in the back crying and Rachel was the one to find her, she had been there for about 5 weeks and got to knew her pretty well, they were the only two that worked in the bar that every really spoke to each other, everyone else was just there to work and go home. They all had families and had grew up in the town, so why would they want to talk to some kid from somewhere else that had just came here? That's how they both felt anyway.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked sitting down beside Molly on the sofa they had for when someone was on a break

Molly stifled her tears and breathed in deeply "My mom's been calling me, crying down the phone in every message" she wiped at her eyes clearing the tears that were rolling down her cheeks "I haven't turned on my phone since I left, I expected it but it's all so real now"

"I haven't either" Rachel sighed "I don't want to hear my dad's voice because I'll want to go home and I can't do that, it's too hard"

"I don't want to back either, but I'm not sure if I can do this anymore Rachel, I don't know anyone but you and I go back to my room every night and just sit there and watch the TV, the only company I ever have is when someone comes to collect my money or when I order food, I don't know why I gave up my life for this"

"It's hard, but if it's what you want and back home is too hard shouldn't it be worth it, you have me and I hope I have you, we can get through it together?"

"Do you want to stay with me, I have a double room anyway because it's all I could get, it would cost less if we were sharing and it would fell more like home, having someone to talk to, some civilisation to keep up from going insane"

They did just that, Rachel moved out of the room she was staying in and into a room with Molly, it was easier to save money for when the baby came because she was sharing the charges.

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><p>She still hadn't told anyone that she was pregnant, she caught herself in the bathroom mirror when she was getting out of the shower, and she could see that her stomach was raised, she was 15 weeks now and she read that this was when your bump grew rapidly so people would catch on pretty soon, well Molly would.<p>

That never happened though, because that night when she got back from work the room was empty off Molly's things and all there was a note left with a cell phone number on it, "Sorry Rachel I had to go home, I couldn't do it anymore, I talked to Gregg and he said you could go back to your old single room, I hope your okay there without me, if you ever need to talk give me a ring, I really am sorry, Love Molly"

Tears streaked down her face, she was alone again. Alone in a town where no wanted to talk to her, to know anything about her, alone to bring up a baby when she hadn't the first clue how too.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you all for the reviews! Please review this chapter! Hope you enjoy! :) Lay X**

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><p>It took about a week for her to get used to life without Molly, her only friend she had had, to get used to being back in a single room all by herself, with only the TV and her music to keep her sane.<p>

And in that week her stomach had grown, she was now clearly visibly pregnant, and she had to tell her boss who was fine with her working in her condition, she was four months into her pregnancy and she was getting used to it, she was able to save whatever money she didn't use for her room or food to save up and buy a few things for the baby, she managed to get a cradle in a charity shop for a good price, she set that up beside her bed, and she had a few baby grows, they were white because she hadn't even seen a doctor, so there was no way of knowing the sex of her child. Seeing a doctor meant paying bills, and she couldn't afford that right now, not with her wage, she was saving up for the hospital bill when she had to deliver the baby, anything before that was not necessary.

The bar was usually quiet on a Wednesday after noon, most people in the small town were working, so there was only one or two men in, she took a break to put her feet up and grab a cup of coffee, her feet got really sore being on them all day, and she gathered that being pregnant didn't help that.

"Excuse me" a voice called from the bar and she pushed herself off the seat and into the bar where a large bunch of people were standing, "Could we order please" a woman asked smiling at Rachel, Rachel took out a pen and paper and smiled back.

She stopped to place a hand on her stomach as she felt her baby kick for the first time, it's usually earlier in the pregnancy, well so she read but Rachel; decided her baby was lazy, a lot of people would have worried, but it never came across to her like that, she had a feeling that the baby was fine and would move in its own time. She smiled a wide smile across her face and removed her hand looking back at the woman.

"It's magical when the kick isn't it?" she said smiling at Rachel

Rachel just nodded and got her pen and paper ready for the order; she took it to the back and handed it to the cook returning out to the front.

The glass she was carrying fell to the floor as she heard her name being spoken in an all too familiar tone, coming from a younger girl now stood in the place where the older woman was just a few minutes ago.

She stood in the same place for what seemed like days and stared into her face, a tear fell down her cheek as she began to cry.

"What are you doing here?"

"I have family in town, and it's my grandmother birthday all my family are here, I couldn't get out of it" she was staring at Rachel's bump, her eyes not moving an inch "Rachel what the hell are you doing here? Why the hell did you leave Lima like that? Do you know how many people are worried about you, what you put them through? What you put me through? I thought we were friends, Rachel you could have came to me, I could have helped you"

She couldn't control the tears, they were controlling her. She sunk to the ground falling on her knees; the only thing she could say was "Sorry"

Santana ran to her and wrapped her arms around her, rocking as she cried hard into her shoulder "I'm sorry Santana, I'm sorry"

"It's okay, your okay"

This side to Santana didn't come out often, but when it did she really was a sweet person, and Rachel is her friend, was her friend and she felt like she had to help her.

"Come on, let's go for a walk" she helped Rachel to her feet and took her by the arm out of the bar

"Do you want to tell what was going on in your head?" Santana asked once they found a bench to sit on

Rachel shook her head "I don't know, everything fell apart and I didn't know what to do, I didn't have a choice."

"You did, you could have came to me, or Puck"

"I couldn't, how could I do this to him again? After everything he went through with Quinn and to land this on him, Noah's a strong person but this would have broke him, you know it"

"It would have been hard, but he would have done everything he could to help you, you know that he would have been strong for you and you would have gotten through it together, have you any idea what you did to him? It's a lot worse than if you just told him the truth, he quit football and glee. He barely comes to school and he doesn't speak to anyone, He speaks to me on occasion, but its never the subjects I bring up, I ask him how he is all the time and he changes it to something irrelevant, he's died inside, he gave up."

"He quit?"

Santana nodded "Just after you left town, he called at your house every night until your dad's got fed up and called the cops, there just as much as mess as he is"

"What have I done Santana? I've ruined people's lives, I've ruined my life"

"You can get it back, come back home with me and I promise you'll be okay, I'll help you through it, and you'll have you dad's and the glee club, and Puck, you can deal with this Rachel, I don't know anyone who could deal with this better than you, you're a strong person you just have to believe that."

She shook her head, tears falling to the ground "I can't, I've done too much damage, I can't get anything back now"

"Yes you can, your dad's still love you, glee club is falling apart without you and I know that Puck's life would be back together if he just seen you again, it's not too late Rachel, it won't ever be too late."

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><p>Santana convinced her parents to let her go home early, she helped Rachel pack her things into her car and she drove her on the long journey home. She could tell Rachel was feeling sick, whether it was the baby and her morning sickness, which Santana thought was the least reason for her friend's nausea or the fact they were on their way back to the life Rachel ran away from.<p>

It was about a 4 hour car ride and it would have been in complete silence if Santana hadn't have spoke up about an hour and a half in "Okay, I can't take it anymore, I don't do silence it's killing me, we're friends Rachel we can talk, you can tell me whatever you want, please just say something, I'll help you with whatever. I promise"

She turned her head to look at Santana the first time she had looked anywhere but out of the window, "I'm scared" was all she said at first, she left minutes in between that and her next sentence, Santana didn't want to fill that silence, because she had no idea how to comfort her from her fears, because truthfully Santana was one of the fears. "I've hurt so many people and I'm sure they all hate me, I disappeared for weeks and I'm going to come back now with a 4 months old baby visually growing inside of me and people are going to know why I ran, they're going to think I was a coward, and Noah he's going to hate me most of all, I hurt him the most and this, it'll destroy him"

"Puck's a big boy; he can take what's coming to him. Rachel you have to understand this wasn't just your mess; Puck had a big role to play in it too. Yeah people might be mad at you for leaving, hell I'm mad at you for leaving when you could have came to me, I may not have always wanted to know your life problems, but I thought we were cool Rach, I thought we were friends and friends are there for each other, they don't just suddenly stop talking to them and ignore them and then run away without any explanation. But I'm not going to guilt trip you, your safe and that's all that matters we can get through this together, you'll have me and Britt and your dad's will be over the moon to see you, they were going crazy thinking you were dead because they didn't hear from you. They have posters up all over Lima and a few other towns just outside Lima, they took this really hard, your their only child, did you even think to let them know you were alive?"

Rachel remember her note and how she told her dad's she would call them to tell them that she was safe, and she never did that. Her phone remained switched off and she never tried any other means of contact, she knew how bad they would have taken it, when she went on a weekend away with school she had to ring them at least three times a day and they knew where she was. To disappear for almost 3 months would have made their lives turn upside down

"No because I was selfish and didn't want to hear their voices or read anything they sent to me, because it would have made me want to go home it was so hard to stay out there alone with no one to talk to, without my dad's for support and to go through it pregnant was even harder, I didn't want to turn my phone on and hear everyone tell me how worried they were and beg me to come home, and I know I sound like the biggest bitch alive for doing this to everyone, but I needed to get away I was ready to tell everyone about the baby, I couldn't tell myself"

"Are you ready now?" it was like she didn't want to make her anymore upset than she already was, she ignored every part of what she said besides the last

Rachel shook her head "No, but I've came to terms with the fact that I'm going to have a baby in five months time, I guess I'm going to have to grow up and accept my actions, it's all I can do now, I know my dad's will be just happy to have me home that they won't even care about the baby for a while anyway, and Noah, I don't know what I'm going to do there, I'll jump off that bridge when it comes to me"

Santana nodded "Do you want to stop for a bite to eat first? Were nearly home"

Rachel shook her head "No, I want to get this over with as soon as possible, if you stop this car now I will get out and run away again"

Santana nodded and kept the car on the road "As much as I need to pee right now I want you to get back home in one piece"

Rachel let herself laugh for the first time in what seemed like forever, "You're so different to the Santana everyone else sees"

"If I let everyone see the side my friends see I'd be nowhere, I'd be right down the bottom at McKinley, if you ever tell anyone about what I did for you, or how I told you that you can come to me for anything, I will make your life hell, this will seem like a walk in the park"

"Got that" Rachel giggled again, it felt good to be here with Santana. She never really thought of Santana as a close friend, but now that she looked at it, she may have been the only true friend Rachel had ever had in her life, so many people said that she was only friends with her because she wanted Puck and was jealous off Rachel, and keep your enemies close and all that, but that wasn't true, Puck and Santana were friends, and she was friends with his friends and all that.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you for the reviews! Sorry this has taken a while, I had a death in the family. I hope you enjoy this chapter, Please also review! :) LayX**

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><p>When they drove passed the sign that said Welcome to Lima Rachel felt the knots in her stomach double "Stop the car, I can't do this!"<p>

Santana stopped as she asked, but she made sure the doors were still locked from her side of the car, she wasn't going to let her run, not when she was four months pregnant and had nowhere to go "You can do it, I'll be with you the whole way, you've come this far you can't back out now!"

"I can back out whenever I want, San only you know about this please just take me back there, please don't make me do this" her eyes were pleading burning into Santana's, but there was no way the Latina was going to let her just go back to another life where she had no one.

"No" it was firm and it made Rachel snap out of whatever she was thinking "I'm taking you home whether you are willing to go or whether I have to drag you there by the hair, I will do it Rachel and you know I will" she was speaking the truth Santana was fierce and never backed out of her word "It's better for both of us if you just do it, your strong, everyone will be happy to see you Rachel, they won't care where you've been or anything else, just as long as they have you back now"

"Do you really believe that? Do you think that Puck won't ask question, won't yell at me for everything? My dad's may just hold me in their arms and thank whoever from bringing me back safe, but not Puck he'll hate me, he'll want to kill me with his own bare hands"

"Now do you really believe that? I know Puck, Noah and I know that he'll feel relief when he sees you, he may ask you where you where and why you did it, but he won't want to kill you, if anything he won't want to do anything to you because he'll be terrified of you leaving again, he has no hope that your ever coming back, he's basically lost the will to live, when he sees you again his life will get better"

"How can he have lost everything? I was one girl, it was two weeks" Rachel had been telling herself that for a long time, that he would move on and find some other girls to have sex with, because that's what Puck was like, he had one girl one night and another the next, he may have been faithful to Rachel for the two weeks they were together and the month or so after that when she broke up with him, but she never really thought she had made an impact on his life

"You were different and you know that, he fell in love with you. You weren't like any other girl he had before; he had been after you since he joined the glee club. He never thought you would go for him so he settled for less and when you finally went out with him he felt like his life was good for a change and that he didn't need any other girl, and when you broke up with him no one could do anything to help him. This sounds like some over dramatic love story or something, but Rachel it's not this is real life as hard as it is to believe it happened"

"I never thought I could turn someone, besides my own life around"

"You've turned a lot of people's upside down. Now can we go and change that back?"

Rachel nodded not trusting her voice; she was scared she would say no again.

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><p>When they got the end of Rachel's street and she could finally see her house, she felt a sense of relief. It was short lived though when panic set in and washed over her entire body. She could feel her stomach turn inside and she felt like she was about to throw up. This couldn't be happening, never in Rachel's life would she have expected to be nervous to see her dads, she never expected any of this really. She always had her life planned out, she would make it to Broadway and be a huge star and then once her career was over she would settle down with her husband and start a family, she never thought that she would be pregnant at sixteen with no husband. She never thought she would run away, Rachel was always so close to her dad's but she felt this was too much and she couldn't turn to them, she couldn't turn to anyone so she did the cowardly thing and ran.<p>

Santana held out her hand when they pulled into the driveway, Rachel took it graciously and she felt Santana squeeze it a little. She looked at her nervously and stepped out of the car, there was no sense in waiting she would only put herself off more.

Once she was out of the car Santana joined the hands together again and they walked slowly towards the door.

She didn't know what to do now, whether to knock, ring the door bell or to walk on in. The door would be open because her father's always left it like that and she could tell from the small crack that it was already open. She chose the doorbell because if she did just walk on in she didn't know what welcome she would get.

It took them a minute to answer the door and when they did it was both of them, just like usually and both of their jaws dropped and tears formed in their eyes. Neither said a word instead embracing their daughter in a hug. She thought they would never let go, sinking her head into Damien's shoulder her arms wrapping round both of them as she cried softly.

The pulled away after a few minutes and looked at her

"Why did you leave us?" Hiram said sadly still looking at her like she wasn't real, his eyes were lit up like all his Christmas's had come at once and Damien looked the same he hadn't said anything yet though.

She shrugged her shoulders "I'm so sorry I couldn't handle everything and I didn't know what to do, I didn't want you to be ashamed of me"

"Ashamed?" Damien said, it was as if Rachel had just insulted him in the worst way possible "We could never be ashamed of you, I'm almost ashamed that you would even think that, you can come to us anytime for anything, you never have to feel alone or like no one will understand and you will fall into blame, Rachel darling we love you"

"I love you too" sobs were escaping her now as she fell back into her father's arms

"I'll leave you guys to it, call me if you need anything Rach" Santana said excusing herself from the situation, she didn't feel right being there it was a family thing.

"Thank you San, and I'm sorry for whatever I made you feel. You're a great friend and I will call you, I promise"

"Thank you for bringing our baby home to us" Hiram gushed at Santana "Do you need a ride home?" he asked noticing only Rachel's car in the drive

She shook her head "No, Britt is going to come and get me, thank you. You guys need time"

They all smiled at her before going into the house.

"I want you to tell me everything, we won't judge you or interrupt until your finished, let everything out because I never want you to do anything like that again" Hiram said once they were all in the living room.

Rachel took a deep breath and began "Noah took me on a car ride, we skipped school and just drove off, I don't know why he chose me to go along but it was a nice day. He told me that it was Beth his daughter's birthday and he got pretty upset so I consoled him and talked to him and stuff and then we went to glee club and after that I went home. He called me that night and was upset again, Quinn had gotten to him and stuff so I invited him over so we ended up sleeping together that night. After that as you know I began dating him. But my period was due a few days later and it never came so I waited a while until it was a full week late and I'm never late so I did a test and it was positive so I panicked, I didn't tell anyone." She sighed "I was so ashamed and scared and I didn't know what to do, abortion crossed my mind but I couldn't do it, it didn't take long to figure that out, I wanted to tell Noah but I couldn't do it to him after what Quinn did so I started to avoid him and Santana and Brittany too, pretty much the whole glee club, my head was everywhere and people were getting annoyed at me so I quit and I couldn't take thing anymore so I took off, I drove up North and I couldn't come home" tears were spilling from her eyes now, she thought she was being so selfish and she hated herself right now

"I wish you would have come to us, but were not blaming you Rachie, we love you very much and we are going to be here for you throughout this, and you can come to us at anytime and we'll help you with whatever you need, please just don't run away again"

"I promise I won't, I'll need you"

"And we need you" Damien smiled

"Now what Noah, does he know yet?" Hiram was afraid to ask, not wanting to trigger anything to fast in Rachel, but it wasn't fair on the boy

Rachel shook her head, he eyes looking to the ground "I can't tell him daddy, I don't know what he'll think"

"We can call him round and we can be here for you, we'll stay out of your way. You need to talk to him and let him in, he needs to know about this the sooner the better there's no way you can keep this from him and it would be cruel to even try."

She nodded her head "I know, can I have something to eat first? I promise I won't back out"

Her dad's smiled and put their arms around there daughter one more time before heading off to the kitchen.

They were mad at her yes, but they had never been so happy in their lives to have her back, living for those few months without her was like living without a heart, it hurt them so badly when she left and they couldn't go a day without thinking about her or worrying. It was nice to have her back in there house safe and well.


	8. Chapter 8

**I am terribly sorry for delays in these updates, I have so much going on and it's harder to update lately, I hope you are still enjoying this though, please review if you read! :) Lay xo**

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><p>I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this. Rachel had been pacing the floor of the living room for the past ten minutes. Her father made her something to eat which she graciously enjoyed; eating for two made her an awful lot hungrier.<p>

I can't do this; I can't do this the words echoed in her head, circling around and around almost begging her to run. I can't do this. The door rapped. I have to do this.

She sucked in the biggest breath she could and took one step, followed by another slowly inching her way to the door. Before she opened she looked through the peep hole. There he was, he looked miserable, broken inside like someone had just kicked his puppy and then stolen it. How could she have done this to him? This was Noah Puckerman, well it was now a shell of the Puck she once knew, he was always bursting with confidence, a grin plastered on his face most of the time, and this was like his ghost.

He put her hand on the knob to open the door, breathed in and pulled it open without another thought, that other thought would most definitely have told her to get out of there. As fast as possible.

The look that was on his face now was a look of sheer disbelief. She felt like shouting surprise or something, but she thought that might have gotten her a slap to the face or something like that. So she decided on saying nothing for now. Just staring the heartbroken boy, whose apparent heartbreak was caused by no one else but herself.

He was the first to speak, whispering her name. She let it blow away with the wind still not knowing what to say. The urge to just shout surprise and pretend it was all a joke climbing, how simple things would be if the scenarios in her head came to life, if it was just a practical joke and he found it funny just like she did and he scooped her up into his arms and they lived happily ever after with their child that would just magically appear and wouldn't cause any pain whatsoever.

But real life didn't happen like that, this wasn't a joke this hurt so many people. Changed lives and she couldn't just be happy in a single second.

"Rachel?" it was more of a question this time, a question of disbelief she could hear it in his voice, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He probably thought he was drunk or high and he was seeing things. Heck he could have been one of those two things or both judging by the state he was in. She couldn't blame anyone else for this, it was her fault he was a mess.

"I'm sorry" she finally spoke, she felt like that was sort of right to say. Because she was sorry she had never been sorrier in her life that she was at this moment. She felt like the world's most selfish person, she felt like someone should arrest her and lock her up for being so stupid, she felt like she needed to be punished.

What he said next was punishment enough "Why?" it wasn't just the question; it was the hurt in his eyes, mixed with anger. How could anyone look at this and live? She felt like she wanted to crawl under some rock and come out when everything was okay, but that couldn't happen until she fixed this mess.

She needed to be braved, standing there gawking wasn't helping anyone. This situation wouldn't go away without some sort of an attempt and an explanation and only she could give that. She thought long and hard about what she should say and all she came up with was 'because I am a stupid selfish child' but she thought it best not to say that, because she doubted it would do her any favours.

"I don't know, I was scared and lost and I didn't have a clue what else to do. I took the easy option and ran. I know it was selfish and it hurt so many people, but I just couldn't deal with this, I couldn't involve anyone else because I blamed myself and I thought everyone else would blame me too, I wanted to fix it myself, and I couldn't and I'm sorry" she surprised herself with how much she said before she broke down, tears filled her eyes and spilled out over her face, she felt as though her breath was about to stop and he lungs were going to explode or implode, which ever was possible.

When he wrapped his arms around her all she could feel was warmth and happiness. She sunk her head into his chest and cried until there were no tears left. When she finally stopped and looked at him they were in the living room sitting on the sofa and he had tears on his cheeks too.

"It was selfish; I'm not going to lie. But it feels so good to see you that I can't even be angry at you, I want to hate you so badly but I can't let myself"

A few stray tears fell down her cheeks when she heard those words, how was it possible to not be angry at a girl who destroyed your life for a few months, who left with no explanation and came back with a baby growing inside of her? And it wasn't possible he just missed that because a blind person couldn't miss the baby bump.

"How far are you?"

"17 weeks"

"Is it mine?"

"Yes"

"Did you ever consider getting rid of it?"

"No"

"Are you keeping it?"

"I don't know"

"Have you seen a doctor?"

"No"

"Why?"

"I didn't have the money and I was too scared"

"Do you want me to make you an appointment? I can come with you"

"Yes"

It was like 20 questions, but less awkward. It was the right questions to ask and she could do nothing only answer him honestly.

"Are you coming back to school?"

She felt like trying another simple one or two worded answer, but she couldn't. She felt like a robot and she wanted to tell him as much as possible to he could hate her as little as possible.

"I don't know what to do, I've messed up my entire life, I've missed a lot or work and it will get harder as the pregnancy goes a long, people will stare I'll get tired more often, but I want an education, I need to get a job to help provide the baby if I do keep it and even if I don't I still need to earn a living to support myself, I don't want to end up stuck in Lima work at a burger joint for the rest of my life. But I'm scared, what if people hate me even more than they did before? I know for a fact the bullying will get worse now that this has happened and because you're the stud of the school, all those other girls will think it's their job to protect you or something"

"I'll protect you, I love you Rachel no matter what you done I still love you. I fell in love with you that day at the lake, maybe even before that I don't know all I know is that day I loved you and every day since then. I've never truly loved anyone before, your different than any other girl, I don't just want you for sex and making out, I want to be with you for the rest of my life. To share things and have a family with. I don't even care how much of a pussy I sound saying this, because it's the truth, you're the only person I can ever imagine being with" his face was showing all sorts of expressions, he didn't know whether to smile at her or look at her lovingly, or whether he just look like he was in pain telling her this, it changed from one to the other. All Rachel was looking at though was his eyes, staring straight at them, like they were gold.

"I think I love you too" she said honestly. "I don't think I've ever been in love, this feelings it's something so much stronger than a physical attraction, it's like my body just want to be near you all the time, when I was away every single day I just wanted to be by your side, smiling and laughing with you, because it makes me feel so good that I never want it to go away. I was scare of that feeling but, it made the decisions so much harder and I had to get out of here to get my head around everything, I was planning to come back sooner, at least I think I was. All I wanted was time for myself, it just got out of my control and I couldn't come back because I knew that people would be angry or upset and I didn't want to face up to it. But I'm a big girl and I got myself into this so I need to grow up and get on with things without worrying about other people, I need to do what is right for me and for this baby, and I need to do what's right for you and for us."

"I want you to do what you want to do, I'll never pressure you into anything and I don't want you to feel like you can't come to me for anything. All I want in return is that you tell me things, if you decide something I want to know, I don't even have to help you decide I just want you to tell me whatever it is, if you decide not to keep the baby I don't want you to shut me out, I don't think I could cope with that, it would mean you were just like Quinn and you're not her at all, please just don't go anywhere again" he was being so honest it made her heart break a little bit, Quinn broke something inside of him, something that he can never fix.

"I would never do that, I promise I'll even give it to you in writing, unless you want me out of your life I'll always be here"

"Good" he smiled, a small weak smile, he still seemed nervous he didn't know what to do, all he wanted to do was grin and hold her in his arms and kiss her and never let her go, but he didn't know what she wanted an the last thing he wanted to do was freak her out

"I want to go back to school Noah, I want to be with my friends again" she sighed "I don't want to wait until this baby is born and then have to do the year over again, while struggling to care for a child, do you think I'll get picked on? Do you think I would be able to cope, what do you think the lee club will say? Will they let me back in? Will they still be my friend? I know Santana said that she would be there for me and stuff, but what if no one else talks to me and she just goes off with everyone because he reputation means a lot to her, maybe even more than our friendship, what if people are rude to me because I'm having your baby, I know that people hated Quinn, well other girls did, what if I get beat up for what I did to you, the girls a McKinley worship you, they already hate me because you dated me, you chose someone like me over one of them" it was like it all come out in one breath, she couldn't stop herself from talking, every single thing she was worried about coming out at one time

"Wow Rach, slow down. You have nothing to worry about, if anyone so much as looks at you the wrong way I'll deal with them, let them be jealous because they'll never have me, they can want all they like but I'm yours Rach. Santana's a cool chick, if she says she'll be there she will be. There's one thing about that girl she doesn't go back on her word. And as for glee they'll be glad to have you back I'm sure, before I quit they were all fighting it out for who has the best 'Rachel Berry' voice, and no one made the cut, all those solo's that you used to get will be yours in a heartbeat"

"Will you come back with me?"

"Try and stop me"


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you guys for the reviews! :) Please continue to review this fic and I hope you enjoy this chapter! **

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><p>She spent a week at home, not wanting to rush back into things too quickly, but of course word got about that she was back and mostly all of McKinley High knew, Santana called round and Brittany came a long too, which was nice. They were catching Rachel up on everything that had happened at school since she was gone, and Santana let her copy up some English and History work as they were in the class together, and Santana was actually really smart so her notes were just as good as Rachel's would have been. She was in front of her maths class and her Home Ed class was really easy and Rachel was always complaining how it was just common sense, Brittany did bring her her book to copy up, but it didn't make much sense, so she decided that she would be okay in that class. Mr Schue would help her with whatever Spanish work she had missed, Noah had already asked him and he also said he would help him to, because although he was present in the class he hadn't been 'there' in a while. Science was the only other class that she didn't have notes to work from for, neither Santana, Brittany or Noah was in that class with her, and the teacher wasn't too fond of Noah after he filled her car with slushie, but Rachel was the apple of her eye so she thought she would ask her nicely when she went back, and hope that she took pity on her, Mrs Ferris was a nice enough woman, so it would probably work.<p>

"So yeah, Kurt has a boyfriend now, his name is Blaine he's pretty cool he transferred after Kurt transferred back from Dalton Academy, and so he's in glee now. And Mike and Tine broke up so that Tina and Artie could get back together"

"Artie and Brit aren't together anymore?" Rachel asked, a frown on her face

Santana shook her head "No, but it's okay Brit was cool with it, she doesn't really understand love so she got over him with a few packets of sweets and some shopping done the trick"

"You're a really good friend to her" Rachel smiled

"She's really good to me too, I can talk and talk and talk to her and she'll just sit there and listen, and yeah her advice may not be the best, but to have that means the world to me"

Rachel smiled at Santana "San you're a really amazing person, you're so nice to Brit and you have been amazing to be lately, if it wasn't for you I'd still be hiding away from everyone, on my own. It means a lot to me that you would do that for me"

Santana giggled a little bit "Your cool Rach, I'll always have your back. You and Puck your both classed as friends in my book, and I don't class a lot of people as friends. And I'm glad that your back here, I won't say this often, but I love you"

Tears filled Rachel's eyes, she tried hard to fight them back but a few escaped "I love you to San"

It wasn't a usual thing for Santana to say anything like that, she told Brittany she loved her every now and again, but she had never said it to anyone else.

"Now can we stop with all this soppy crap and go get some food, Puck's gonna meet us at that Pizza place on the North Road"

"Okay, let's go" Rachel still had a huge smile plastered across her face, and Santana couldn't help smile when she looked at her. Rachel grabbed her car keys and the girls left the house, saying goodbye to Rachel's dads as they left.

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><p>It was the night before Rachel was going back to school, she had caught up on all of the work her friends had given her, and she had her bag all packed for the next day. The only thing she had to do was find an outfit that wouldn't show off her bump too much. She wanted as little attention pinned on her.<p>

She searched threw her wardrobe for hours not finding a single thing that hid her stomach, all of her tee's or jumpers were fitted tightly enough that they now clung to her enlarged stomach.

She sighed in frustration and slumped down to the floor, tears stung at her eyes ready to release but the knock at her door stopped them. She looked up to see Noah stand there smiling down at her, and as soon and she saw him smile at her, her face mirrored his.

"Hi" she smiled, their relationship was back to that two weeks of bliss they spent together like nothing had ever happened, like she didn't disappear and then come back and drop a bombshell on him. He wanted to forget everything and just pretend they had always been a happy couple, and Rachel was more than happy to do so.

"Hey there, are you okay?" he asked her, he could notice she was a bit upset, even though she was trying her best not to look so

She nodded and put on her best brave face, but he could see right through it and she knew that. "I can't find anything to wear, everything sticks to my bump and it makes it look even bigger, I don't want everyone to stare and point and me Noah" she was in an exasperated state, tossing clothes across the room

"Will this help?" he asked handing a bag to her, her face lit up when she looked in.

She pulled out a pink summer dress and smiled at him "It's lovely" she stood up and took off the nightgown she had on. Noah's heart stopped a little, it was the first time he had seen her bump, he had obviously seen it when she had clothes on, but she only had her underwear on now and she looked more beautiful than ever, almost like she was glowing. It wasn't a huge bump just yet, but it was pretty big, noticeable. He understood why she didn't want to show it off, but it was most definitely beautiful.

"Your beautiful you know, I never thought having a baby bump would make someone so much more attractive, it suits you" he laughed a little

"I don't know about that" she said, with a little bit of a sigh "I'm a freak show, the sixteen year old that got herself knocked up, the one girl that no one would expect it to happen to, I'll be the laughing stock of the school, and I doubt anyone will find it attractive, how could they?"

"You're so wrong Rachel, you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen before, but this makes you so much more. You have no need to be embarrassed; I want nothing more than to show you and that bump off. You both belong to me and it makes me so happy"

"I don't want you to see it that way that were both yours" her eyes filled with tears, and Puck immediately thought he had said the wrong thing, he knew he had. "I'm so lucky to have you, but Noah I don't know what I'm going to do with this baby" she let a few tears out, trying her best not to break down "I don't want to hurt you by taking this baby away from you, but I don't know if I can be a mum, if I'm ready and I don't know how you feel either, if you're ready to give up your life to be a father, and if you are then you may be just the best boy, no man that I have ever met. I promise that I'll be with you until you don't want me anymore, and as soon as I know what I want to do you will be the first to know, and I hope you can stay by my side through whatever"

"I'm sorry, I don't want you to think I'm putting any pressure on you, I'll always be here for you, no matter what you need. I'm not going to lie it will hurt so much to give up another baby, but I love you so much that I wouldn't want to lose you and the baby"

She smiled and put her arms around his neck, holding him close "Thank you, for everything. For the dress too, but I won't hide my bump, if people want to stare they can"

He hugged her back, kissing her neck softly. "I love you"


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you to everyone who reads this, and author alerts/favorites and story alerts/favorite. You all make me soo happy! :) The next chapter is going to be the last (I think) **  
><strong>Please review if you read, I love reading what you guys have to say!<strong>

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><p>Rachel was up early, getting ready for her first day back at school. She had to force herself to go back to sleep when she woke up at 4am, but when she woke up the second time at 6 she couldn't go back to sleep. Her stomach was in knots and this time it wasn't morning sickness that had passed now. She was terrified about going back to school, what everyone would say about her, say to her.<p>

Puck was picking her up and half past eight, she took her shower and spent a bit longer in there, relaxing herself and trying to get rid of the nerves, her dad made her breakfast and brought it upstairs. It was 7:30 now and she thought it was best to start getting ready, she did her hair first, blow drying it until it was nice and straight and the she applied her makeup. The last thing she had to do was put on the dress that Noah had bought her and pair of shoes.

And then she was ready and waiting down the stairs in the living room watching the television.

He beeped the horn from outside and that was it, time to face the music or so to speak, she kissed both if her father's goodbye and left the house, they waved her off at the door, their best 'Be strong' faces on.

The drive to school was only a few minutes as it was just around the corner, "Are you ready?" he asked her as they pulled into a parking space

"I have to be" she said bravely "I need to get back to normal, I can't hide away forever"

He smiled at her proudly "Your the strongest person I know, I love you"

"I love you too" she said as she got out of the car and ran to open her door, she took his hand as they walked across the Lott. Santana and Brittany joined them just outside of the school, she knew that Noah had told them what time they would be coming at, and she knew it wasn't just a coincidence that they met like that.

"You look really pretty Rachel" Brittany smiled

"Thanks' Brit, so do you as always"

"You do look good, Rach. You'll be the hottest mama out" Santana added, it brought a smile to Rachel's face. She may be a devil on the outside, but she was an angel to the people that really knew her, and that she really liked.

They walked into the school all in a row, like out of some teenage movie. Of course people had already began to stare at her and whisper about her, but he head was held high as she chatted with her friends and tried her best to ignore whoever was talking about her.

The bell went and she cringed, she would have to let go of Noah's hand and go to her first class, he wasn't in that with her. "Come on" Santana held out her arm and Rachel gladly took hold of it, kissing Noah goodbye as they walked down the corridor.

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><p>"Do you really know what you did to Puck when you left like that? How stupid and selfish you were, I can't believe you even got yourself pregnant in the first place. Was it on purpose? Were you just trying to be me again, because deep down you had to know that Puck wouldn't stay with you, that you wouldn't be enough for him and he was just waiting on me to give up on Finn and get back with him, right?"<p>

"Noah loves me"

"Yeah you tell yourself that, this baby is nothing more than a chain that keeps him with you, and it's pathetic Rachel, you'll never be good enough for him!" Quinn was trying not to scream, trying not to be heard by anyone else

"I didn't plan this pregnancy, it happened the first night that me and Noah ever spent together, it has nothing to do with you anyway Quinn, just stay away for me and Noah, and stay out of our lives"

"Is that right, because Noah thinks you did. He was saying how it was your fault you feel pregnant because you basically jumped him, and he never planned to have sex with you, no matter how much he loves sex he never once thought that he would do it with you, he just couldn't say no because you looked so happy to finally be with the stud of the school, and of course he didn't have condoms, but he told you that and you said it was okay, that you were on the pill? Well looks like you lied to him" Quinn had a evil glare in her eyes, like she was trying to break Rachel in two

It may have worked, Rachel's eyes overflowed with tears as she screamed at Quinn "You're lying! He would never say that!"

"Why would I lie? I don't want him, I have everything I need in my life, I'm just trying to save you from getting hurt. Puck isn't a commitment sort of a guy, why do you think I give my baby to your mum, not only because I felt sorry for her because she had you as a daughter and could definitely use a second chance, but because if I did decide to make a family with Puck it would last a few months until he got bored, and it's going to be exactly like that for you"

Rachel looked like she was dead; she couldn't say anything back because she felt empty, like life wasn't worth living. If only she didn't come to the bathroom alone, but her teachers wouldn't let her be escorted, she may have been pregnant and allowed to use the bathroom whenever she needed, but to ask for company would be pushing it. She thought she could manage it alone, she thought wrongly.

"Of course you can just run away again, or do something to get rid of the baby. Or yourself, it isn't hard Rachy, just think about it okay? And I'm always here for you, if you need to talk"

Quinn left. Leaving Rachel alone to feel like her world had just collapsed, there was no way Quinn was telling the truth, she had to be wrong. But why would she make it up? As she said her and Noah were history, she had Finn and Finn always seemed like everything she had ever wanted, and she had her popularity back. Why would she still need to make things up and make Rachel's like hell, maybe she was just trying to help Rachel, because she had been there before.

Tears continue to spill for her eyes as she ran out of the building, she cursed herself for not driving to school, she only lived a few blocks away so she walked home. Her dad's were at work so she sighed and went straight to her room, packing her bags and throwing them into the car. She dipped into her dad's emergency funds that they kept in a jug under the kitchen sink and took all the money that was in it.

She grabbed a pen and some paper and scribbled down a note for her dad's and then one to give to Noah.

_Dear Noah._

_I'm so sorry to do this to you again, but I can't do it. It's too much I need to be by myself and this time it's not for a short period of time, last time I always thought about coming home, but this time is different I don't want to be a burden on anyone's life anymore, meeting you and falling pregnant was the worst thing that ever happened to me, and I'm so sorry that it happened._

_I know you never liked me, and that you only stand by me now because of your baby growing inside of me, but you can be free now. You have no commitments, Quinn was right you're not that sort of person, you're a player, you like girls and that's what you want in life, I'm sorry and I know it was my fault that all of this happened, but you never had to tell everyone that._

_I don't know what to do; everything is running through my head right now, why am I here? No one really loves me, I would be better off if I didn't exist anymore, maybe that's what I should do, stop my existence. But just know that wherever I am I'll always think of you_

_I hope you do find someone someday, I do love you Noah._

_Rachel_

This time she would leave, and she would never come back. She was just a burden on everyone's life and they may have been happy to see her back, but they truly didn't want the hassle of her and the baby. She was better alone.

When she was far enough away from her school and her home she stopped the car. She had no idea where she was going, she reached into her bag and pulled out a bit of paper, with a number written on it, she dialled the number and held the phone to her ear.

"Hello" a voice on the other end answered

"Hi, it's Rachel"

"Hey, how are you?"

She could help but break down into tears, "Rachel, what's wrong? Talk to me"

"Everything" she cried "Molly I went home, my friend found me and took me home and I thought everything was okay, Noah was angry and he told he would stand by me, but I talked to Quinn today and she told me he thought it was all my fault and that he never liked me, the only reason he was standing by me now was because of the baby"

"Wow Rachel slow down, did you talk to Noah about it?"

"No..."

"Maybe you should do that, that girl could have gotten the story wrong, or for some reason be making it up, but if it is true then you still have your other friends and your family to help you and to look after you, running away won't solve anything, I think we both learnt that. It's hard being on your own, you get lonely and you struggle for money to be able to stay somewhere, and you with a baby on the way, it's not fair on it to be put through stress. Just think before you do anything, and call me anytime you need to talk"

"Okay, thank you, bye" Rachel hung up without another word, she was doing exactly what Molly said thinking, what was she doing? How could she put her dad's through this again?

She turned the car around and drove quickly home, hoping to destroy the note before he dad's read it, they would worry so much and this time they would call the police no doubt.

She sighed with relief as she got home and their car wasn't back, she rushed into the house without looking down the street, completely missing Noah's car parked two doors down. When she got in she rushed to the kitchen and lifted up the note, looking for the one for Noah that she was sure she left there too. She looked on the floor and jumped when she heard a voice behind her

"Looking for this?"

She turned around to see a red eyed Noah holding up the piece of paper "Noah.. I"

"No, I don't want to hear it. How could you do it again? What is going through your head that you would write me a note like that? Basically a suicide note, if I didn't come looking for you when you didn't come to class would I have come here to find you dead later on? Or just gone again without a trace of where? I didn't yell at you last time, but hell if I'm not going to do that now"

"Noah..." she tried to cut him off, but he wasn't going to let her

"No Rachel, I need to tell you some things. I have no idea where the hell you got half of that stuff from, I never blamed you for getting pregnant, I was the one who picked you up and took you out to that lake, I do like you Rachel, if I didn't I wouldn't have come to your house that night, I'm not going to let you walk out of my life, if you don't want to be with me fine, but you can't keep me out of that baby's life, I stood by you this far, I haven't said a word about the baby because I know you haven't decided what to do, but if I ever think you're going to take off and take my baby away, I'll stop you Rachel, no matter what I have to do. And not knowing whether you want to exist, if you kill yourself you will kill that baby, and I would never be able to hear your name again without being physically sick. I love you Rachel, and I love that baby"

Tears had been spilling down her eyes; she had never seen him so angry before.

"Quinn told me that you didn't love me, that you told her those things"

"Quinn Fabray put you in this state?"

She was scared, she didn't know what was better to say yes or no. The look in his eyes terrified her. She nodded her head

"I'll kill the bitch"

"It's not true?"

"It's far from the truth Rach, I swear to god I love you. That day at the lake was it for me I knew I wanted to be with you, she had no idea what she's talking about, she wants me back. She told me when you were away, she said I was better without you, and I turned her down because I knew you would come back, she's not going to drive you away again, not if I can help it"

"No, Noah please! Don't do anything, let me deal with this. I was too gutless to stand up to her, I was afraid everything she was saying was true"

"Fine, but I'm not letting it go, you can have your say but if she ever goes near you or says one word to you again, that's it"

Rachel nodded her head, and put her arms around Noah when he hugged her, feeling safe again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you to each person who has read this fic! It means an awful lot that you have liked my story enough to read to the end! I hope you enjoy this final chapter, I've left it open for me to do a sequel if I ever get time... but do check out my previous fics and if you want put me on author alert and look out for my new fic "A Run To Remember" it's a Puckleberry fic! Of course lol... Please review and let me know what you thought of this! Lay** X

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><p>They didn't go back to school that day, they lay together on the sofa and watched the TV until Rachel fell asleep in Puck's arms. The doorbell rang and she stirred a little, but it didn't wake her. Puck gently moved off the sofa and went to answer the door.<p>

"Hey" Santana said when the door opened and she seen him "Is Rach okay, she wasn't in class this afternoon"

Puck nodded "Quinn" he said raising his eyebrows, he pulled the note from his pocket and let her read it before tears began to form in his eyes "I can't let her get to het again, I can't lose her San. I was able to stop her this time, but what if someone else hurts her and she feels like this again and she takes off, or worse..."

"What happened with Quinn?"

"She didn't tell me everything, but she was telling her how I didn't want her and that I blamed her for getting pregnant and putting me through this again"

"I didn't say before, but Quinn was telling a few of the cheerio's that you and her were almost back together before that she didn't care about Finn, that you were giving Rachel the boot so that you two could be together or some crap like that, I didn't believe it or anything so I didn't think I needed to tell you, it would only make things difficult, but I swear if she hurts her or even breathes near her again she'll have me to deal with, and Fabray knows that I mean business"

"Rach is asleep now, but I'll tell her you called and she can call you later, she might be more willing to talk to you than me about this stuff, but thanks San it means a lot to have a friend like you, to both of us that is" he smiled at her before she pulled him in for a hug

"If you tell anyone how soft I am I'll kill you Puckerman, but it's kind of nice to have proper friends" she smiled before turning and walking away down the path.

She was still sleeping when he got back into the house; he just sat on the other sofa and watched her for a bit, thinking of how things will change when the baby is born and how he isn't even afraid of everything. He has this picture in his head of a bunch of little kids running around in a yard and Rachel running around after them, lifting them up and swinging them round before they all pull her to the ground and pile on top of her, everyone looks so happy. And for a second he thinks it's real that it is actually happening. When he pulls himself from the day dream by Rachel lifting her body up he smiles as he think one day it may be true.

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><p>The first thing of the morning was glee and Rachel was getting herself prepared for facing up to Quinn, she didn't know how exactly it would go down, but she assumed it could get pretty heavy, Quinn aced being a bitch and she didn't know when she was wrong or going too far, so she would give Rachel as much as she could, no matter who was watching her.<p>

They entered the choir room together and only Kurt and Mercedes was there, they both rushed over to Rachel and almost smothered her to death "I'm so sorry Rach, for anything we have either said or down to you, we didn't realise how much we would miss you until you were gone, glee club isn't the same without your voice! We may not always show it, but we do love you Rachel!" Kurt blabbered out, he was always a bit of a drama queen

"It wasn't your fault guys, and thanks that means a lot" she smiled, the old Rachel would have milked that a lot more, saying how she was glad they missed her talent that it was the thing that made the glee club, but now she didn't want to do anything to make anyone hate her.

The same thing happened with all the glee members as they came in, they threw themselves at her, hugging her tightly telling her never to go away again, that they loved her so much and all that stuff, it was only Santana and Brittany didn't hug her, they laughed as she shot them a help me look when Tina wouldn't let go off her. Mr Schue looked like all his Christmas's had come at once when he got to the choir room, dropping his bag on the piano before he hugged Rachel "God Rachel we've missed you"

"I think I got that Mr Schue, but thanks" everyone laughed as she pulled herself back and sat down, she looked exhausted from all the hugs, but she was grateful it helped to feel wanted again.

"It's true but Rach, I had all these amazing solo's and everyone agreed that they needed your voice, it's good to have you back with us too Puck" he smiled at Noah, he nodded back and took Rachel's hand.

They both noticed that Quinn or Finn hadn't shown up yet, but just as they thought that, in they walked hand in hand, Quinn's eyes focusing on Rachel giving her the biggest glare she could.

"Hey Rach!" Finn said as he ran to hug her, they may not be together but he did still care about her, clearly he had no idea about what his girlfriend's thoughts were.

"It hasn't been the same without you!"

"You can say that again" Kurt smiled

"Oh please, your all acting like she's the only one that can sing around here" Quinn huffed "We all have just as much talent, just because you don't have her voice that can hold notes that not many of us can't hold it doesn't mean this glee club has gone downhill, we were doing fine without her, all you want is to keep her happy so that she doesn't do another runner, it was pathetic Rachel and highly attention seeking, face up to your actions, you got in that state, putting Puck through all this again, you should be ashamed of yourself"

Puck stood up to start, but Rachel pulled his hand to sit back down again before she stood to her feet.

"No Quinn you're completely wrong. I'm not going to stand here and say that yes the gleeclub will be far better now that I'm back, I'm aware how amazing some of you are in here and that you could cope without me, but the fact that I'm wanted here means a lot to me, and you are not going to take that from me. What you said you said to me yesterday was disgusting, that Noah doesn't want to be with me, that he only is because of the baby and that he blames me? That he really wanted to be with you? Well it's far from the truth Quinn. You're going to have to accept that not every guy in this school wants you, you have Finn and I honestly can't imagine why you would want to break up every other couple, Finn is an amazing guy, he shows that by being with you, but if he knew the spiteful person you really are I think he would re-evaluate your relationship!" she stopped for a breathe before she continued "You made me feel like crap yesterday to the point where I almost disappeared again but I realised that your pathetic and no one should be made to feel like that by someone like you. I love Noah and I love this baby, I have more guts than you do by sticking with him and not putting him through hell like you did and I'm going to keep this baby and we may not be able to bring it up in gold but it will be loved and Noah will make the greatest Daddy in the world! And you can't take any of that away from me"

No one was looking at Rachel or Quinn now, they were all staring at Puck, and when Rachel looked down at him there was a tear falling from his cheek "Were keeping the baby?"

"If you want too" she smiled

He nodded standing to his feet, he picked her up and kissed her before placing his hand on her stomach "I love you more than you could ever imagine, and I'll love this baby"

"This has to be the cutest thing in the world" Kurt blubbered wiping tears from his face "You guys need to get your own TV show!"

The whole glee club laughed apart from Quinn who remained standing the glare still fixated on Rachel "Oh so I'm the bad guy now, because I gave my baby up to a better home and because I may have said a few home truths to Rachel, well whatever makes you guys feel better for treating her just as bad as I did, you can apologise and she can forgive you, but it still happened"

"Quinn for the love of god, why does everything have to be about you?" she was shocked that Finn would turn on her, but he couldn't help himself, "I don't understand what I ever saw in you, you're a monster."

"No one treated Rachel worse than I did no one but you that was. Yeah it was fun to call her names and stuff but you made her life a misery, you took away every guy she was ever interested in no matter if you liked them or not, why can't you just let her be happy you bitch!" Santana burst out "Rachel knows how sorry I am, and I've been her friend ever since she got with Puck, because unlike you I accepted that they were a couple"

"Oh yeah, all turn on me, I haven't done anything wrong! Finn come on let's get out of here" she took a step holding out her hand for him to follow her

"No, were over Quinn"

Everyone's eyes grew wide "I can't be with someone who has no heart"

"Fine, you know what you can have them all Rachel, you win! But don't come crying to me when everything goes back to the way it used to be and you're a no one anymore, Puck will realised what he's got himself into pretty soon and then you'll have no one but your kid"

"That's never going to happen, best friend stick together" Santana smiled

"And I'll never leave her, I want to be with her for the rest of my life, I was going to wait until after the baby had been born, but Rachel will you marry me?" he knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring, with a small stone in the middle

Tears fell down her cheeks as the smile on her face grew wider "Of course I will"


End file.
